


Swords and Daggers

by eiyria



Category: Alex Verus Series - Benedict Jacka
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2019-11-01 15:45:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17870093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eiyria/pseuds/eiyria
Summary: Chalice has a small, sharp, smile as she talked to me. “When you first asked me for information on it, I didn’t think you were serious.” She pulled out some papers in a dark folder, and passed it to me. Her finger, still holding it closed to prevent me from opening it.  “Imagine my surprise when I found out hints that the great myth, might not be so mythical after all.”As the threat of Richard’s plans looms over his head, Alex is hot on the trail of an artifact that might actually give him a chance. If only he could obtain it.





	1. Chapter 1

I sat across from Chalice on a shaded patio at a quaint cafe. A small kettle and two cups sat between us. Her posture was relaxed, yet professional, and her medium-length black hair fell over her shoulder. I brought my cup to my lips, and took a sip.

Chalice has a small, sharp, smile as she talked to me. “When you first asked me for information on it, I didn’t think you were serious.” She pulled out some papers in a dark folder, and passed it to me. Her finger, still holding it closed to prevent me from opening it. “Imagine my surprise when I found out hints that the great myth, might not be so mythical after all.”

“Did you decide on a price for this information?” I asked. Chalice and I have an interesting relationship. I can enlist her assistance, for a price – and as my ally – she could do the same to me. This time, I had asked her to use her information network to try to locate a legendary imbued item – one not documented by the Council.

Her dark eyes met mine. “You’re interested in the sword. I’m interested in something that has a high probability of being next to the sword. A certain dagger with a white hilt.”

I smiled, because Chalice was exactly the type of person I had thought she was. Favor’s didn’t come cheap. But if I could acquire this particular artifact, her price was one I’d gladly pay. “One question,” I asked, “If you were able to dig up all this information by yourself. Why haven’t you just taken both the sword and any other item you desired?” Chalice was a Dark mage. Someone who lived by the concept of take-what-you-want and strong-beat-the-weak. Why had she not just acted in self interest?

She barked out a short laugh. I’d thought I’d actually surprised her. “Verus,” she said pleasantly. “We’re allies of course.”

I raised an eyebrow at her, that was not a likely answer.

She sighed, “Sometimes I don’t think you’re aware of your public image. You’re on the Council, you have assassins gunning for you, your every action is scrutinized whether you know it or not.” She took a sip of tea. “I have no intention of drawing as much attention to myself, as you seem to be doing.” She put her tea cup down. “When all I have to do is wait for you to bring me what I want, and no one will associate with me with any incident that occurs while trying to obtain the object.”

The explanation was good enough for me. I’d known Chalice for couple years now, and she never seemed the type to take direct action. However, a part of me held the belief that she was fully capable of taking what she wanted, if she chose to.

“Do we have a deal?”

“Yes,” I replied curtly. “But there is no guarantee that the dagger will be there.”

Her finger rose from the top of the folder, and she pushed it in my direction. “I’ll take my chances,” she said. Chalice was a probability mage. And it always seemed like every time we made these deals I was uniquely positioned to acquire what she desired.

I took the folder, opened it, and began to read. My eyes met hers over the top of the folder. “You’re kidding me.” I muttered, “Has it been there all along?”

A smile danced along her features, in reply.

We finished our tea, and she left first. On my way out of the cafe, my precognition flared. I tried to follow the future down, anticipating an attack of some sort, but before I could get far, the futures fell away. I reevaluated the possible futures, and found … nothing?

Confused, but still cautious, I briskly walked towards a bus stop, the folder filled with Chalice’s information tucked snugly under my arm, careful to keep my attention on the futures. When I was sure I wasn’t being followed, I used my gate stones to jump to a few intermediary locations, before finally jumping to my shadow realm.


	2. Chapter 2

Sometime later I met up with Variam, Luna, Anne, and Arachne at her home in Hampstead Heath. The folder Chalice had given me, and all of its contents were spread out before me. Luna’s mouth was slack-jawed and her eyes looked shocked.

“You don’t mean...” she mumbled. “This is...” she struggled to find the words. “This sword you are looking for, is -THAT- sword?” she sputtered out, sounding amazed.

Variam turned between Luna and me, and back to Luna, “I still don’t get it.”

Anne’s soft small voice cut through the resulting silence, “Excalibur.”

Variam’s head snapped back in my direction, his eyes wide and locked on me. “What?!”

Anne’s excited voice chimed again, “Alex, are you serious? You actually found Excalibur? THE Excalibur?”

I felt the corners of my mouth pull back to a smirk. “I don’t want to get my hopes up. But it looks that way.” Some of the pages in front of me had pictures from different angles of a long, sharp, sword; with words that resembled latin etched into the blade near the hilt.

Arachne slowly encroached on six of her eight legs. She stared over my shoulder, following my line of sight to the photos. “Tollite me et mittite,” she muttered. I heard her breathing stop, followed by a sharp intake of air. “Take me up, Cast me away.” After a moment she continued, “Yes. It could very well be the sword.”

“This could be a game changer,” I said, turning back to look at Arachne, “If this turns out to be real, this could be exactly the imbued item we’ve been searching for. Something that would allow me to compete with Richard, Morden, and the Council.”

For a moment, something about the way she looked made me think that Arachne looked a bit sad. But whatever it was, it quickly disappeared. Arachne smiled at me. I turned back towards the group, the futures informing me that Luna was about to talk.

Luna huffed excited, almost jumping up in place. “I can’t believe it! It might be over! Something that could equalize the playing field.”

Anne nodded, and without a trace of sarcasm spoke softly, “Maybe Sal Sarque might think twice before another assassination attempt.”

“So where is it?” asked Variam.

I shuffled some papers until I found the one I was looking for, “The Wallace Collection.”

Everyone’s eyes widened in surprise.

“It is in a museum?” asked Anne, her eyes narrowed, pensive. “Why hasn’t someone else taken it yet?”

“Chalice seems to think its tucked away in the conservation gallery, on the bottom floor.” I leaned forward, mulling over the absurdity of her claim, “She does have a track record for being right about these kinds of things.” If anyone other than Chalice had told me Excalibur was sitting in the basement of the Wallace Collection, I would have found it laughable. But there was something about her probability magic that always seemed to point me in the right direction. And for mages, information was gold.

“If Chalice says it is there,” Luna spoke, “Then we’ll find it there.”

“Right,” I stood up, and clapped my hands together definitively. “Plan time. Luna. Variam. Can you two scope out the museum?” I asked. “Map out the place, find out where the video cameras are, maybe find out the schedule of the employees?”

Luna eyed me suspiciously, “I mean, yeah – we could do it. But -” she pondered for a second, “Isn’t this kind of thing up your alley? Why us?”

To anyone else it might have seemed like an odd question to have asked. But Luna had spent a lot of time around me, and she was one of the few people who really understood just how encompassing my magic was. From her, it was a valid question. I was more than capable of standing in a museum, not moving a muscle, and using my foresight to accomplish every task I had asked of her and Variam, without leaving any trace or indication of my doing so. However, “I would do it. But, Anne and I are scheduled for a Council session tomorrow. The last thing I want to do is not show up for work and cause every pair of suspicious eyes pointed in my direction.” I let out a breath, “Having the item is important and gives us an advantage. But, no one knowing we have the item is infinitely more valuable.”

“I’m in,” said Variam, “I’ll clear my schedule for tomorrow.”


	3. Chapter 3

Two keepers, a mind mage named Saffron and an air mage named Ilmarin flanked either side of me as I walked into Chelsea Old Church. The door closed on Sergeant Little and 5 heavily armed keepers waiting ready outside. A familiar face, Slate waited with them. I wanted to avoid a fire fight if at all possible. But I wasn’t dumb enough to be totally unprepared.

The objective was simple. Our target, 25 year old sound-adept Anthony Kelly, had come into the possession of an item called The Binding Mirror. It was an item I’d recognized from the Council records, which had been one of the items looted during the Vault raid a year prior. From the Council documentation I’d learned it showed a manifestation of the true nature of its reflective image. For example, when looking to buy a condo, looking at the property through the mirror might display either a disheveled version of the building or a sparkling palace. Or, if its user turned the mirror towards a particularly nasty individual, the user might see a demonic form reflecting their true nature. There was of course, a less obvious catch. Lies and facades are everywhere. Everyone puts on their best face and hides their desires and troubles. The mirror would show all of that. And to see the depravity of those around you with such clarity, can overtime break a person. The mirror’s images forever imprinted on that person’s mind. Anthony had last been seen desperately throwing open the door to this church, and stumbling inside. All reports indicated he had not left for the past 6 hours.

Sitting in the second-to-the-front pew, closest to the alter, was a man that I identified immediately as Anthony Kelly. I didn’t even require my foresight, but I checked anyways. Anthony was hunched over, hands squeezed tightly together, wavy brown hair covering and stuck-to his sweat-dripped face, the back of his shirt damp with perspiration. I moved towards him, up the right isle, Ilmarin and Saffron stopping at the 6th pew. As I got closer I could hear him muttering and could see his eyes slammed shut under a furrowed brow.

I scanned the futures and found them muddled with indecision. Anthony was not in his best state of mind. I took one that I thought looked the best. I slid into Anthony’s pew, careful to keep a few feet of difference, and I lowered my head, avoiding eye contact. Minus my people and Anthony, we were alone in the church. Softly I muttered, “I can help you, if you want.”

His eyes shot wide with surprise and a hint of fear. For a second I saw the start of violence in the futures, before they were lost to his indecision. “Who are you?” he asked.

I shifted my position to face him, my body language open and non threatening. “I’m Alex Verus,” I said slowly, “I use to own a magic shop,” I paused, “Maybe you’ve heard of it? The Arcane Emporium.”

I thought I saw recognition graze his face for a moment. After a moment he replied, “I think – I think I’ve heard of you.” The tension in Anthony’s body seemed to lessen, and he sagged into the pew.

After a moment, I began slowly. “I think you’ve come in contact with an artifact. Something that shows a representation of the real world – only – slightly different.”

He didn’t move. The futures were distorted, and I assumed he hadn’t come to a decision of whether or not to trust me. From how I kept loosing threads of possible outcomes, I assumed his mind was racing, filled with questions to ask or not to ask. Dialog is a difficult part of divining, because its fluid and ever-changing. If I couldn’t see more than a few seconds ahead, I needed to try to deescalate the situation, and get Anthony less on-edge.

“And I’m sure it showed you some things that you really didn’t want to see. Stuff of nightmares.” I paused, and waited for a reaction.

He nodded. _Good,_ I thought _._ _He’s at least replying._

“But what it shows you, isn’t exactly the truth either. The mirror’s reflection is just a representation of stronger attributes of something’s nature.” I struggled to find the words, “Think about if you used that mirror on the CEO of a startup company. You might see some representation of beauty and passion in the mirror.” I paused for effect, “Alternatively you could see that same person as a over-extended, in pain, eyes aflame.” The very same person who has the drive to risk everything for their endeavor could very well appear as either.”

“But it always seems more bad than good,” mumbled Anthony under his breath.

“There are bad parts to good people sometimes,” I replied. “Nobody is perfect.”

The futures became murky as Anthony pursed his lips to ask a question, but he couldn’t decide which. The futures settled as he reached in his pocket to pull out the mirror to hand it towards me.

It happened fast enough that I only had a moment’s notice.

He wasn’t handing the mirror to me, he planned to look at me through the mirror. “Are you a good person?”

A flash of fear raced through me, and something in my gut took over. I broke all the future paths I’d been pursing. Something instinctively recoiled from discovering whatever that reflection could have been. I made the decision to not look at the mirror, and that dedicated choice allowed me to reform the futures, and pursue them without fear of seeing the mirror’s contents.

But it was too late. Anthony had seen. And I felt ill as I watched his face go white as a sheet. Whatever he had seen, I did NOT want to know what it was. My life choices had not always been good ones, and I was not ready to face the possibility that all the work I’d put into not being a product of my upbringing was all for naught.

I had only a second or two to react as Anthony lunged aggressively in my direction. “Liar!” he screamed. I jolted out of my sitting position, painfully slamming into the pew in front of me. Anthony’s extended hand hovered over the pew where I’d sat a moment prior. A glint of purple light on a sharp point emanated from his hand.

Our intel had been wrong. Anthony didn’t have one imbued item. He had two.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Saffron stare, frozen in place. Ilmarin knocked into her shoulder as he ran towards me. Anthony was inches away, eyes wide with fear, with the mirror clutched protectively against his chest. He turned towards me with the sliver of purple in hand. And then something changed. Ilmarin’s mouth was clearly moving as he ran, but I couldn’t hear the words.

_Oh_ , I thought. _That’s right, he’s a sound adept, isn’t he?_

I frantically looked at the futures. I picked the one that put the most distance between Anthony and I. I grabbed the pew railing, hoisted myself over it in a single leap, and back-peddled. With some distance between us, I looked at futures where the purple blade hit me, and it was not pretty. I recognized the item from Council records. It was called the Prime Shard. While it didn’t do anything too special, it did do it well. Compressed death magic that translated the user’s life into lightning jolts of death magic. The first strike wouldn’t kill me. But the second stab might.

The futures told me that several things were going to happen relatively quickly. One, Anthony was going to come after me, over the pew. Saffron was coming out of her shocked state, and was going to have a look on her face that I’d come to recognize as a tell that she was using her magic. Ilmarin was going fire off something akin to an air blast. It was going to miss. And Little, Slate, and the rest of the council keepers were about to burst in and open fire.

Perfect. I could work with this.

I whipped out a baton from underneath my coat, that I’d once used to take down some thugs outside of Hempstead Heath. Of course, I had a gun too, but if I could, I wanted to resolve this with Anthony alive. Steady, I held my ground. Anthony lunged over the pew at me, amateurish, with his arm extended, just like his last attack. I stepped sideways, turning towards him, and whacked his wrist, breaking it. It also put him in a position that Ilmarin’s air blast would actually hit. The Prime Shard went flying in one direction, and Anthony was lifted into the air and spun in the other.

My sense of sound came back, and I heard Anthony scream and crash into the floor. He clutched the broken wrist with his other hand. The mirror forgotten by his body. I moved over to him, and kicked the face-down-mirror away with my shoe. He seemed to notice, and reach towards it. While he was distracted I put my foot on his neck and applied pressure. “Saffron,” I called, “Any day now!”

Little and Slate burst in through the front door. Their guns raised, and I found them trailed on me. When they saw me, they looked surprised, and dropped their weapons. “Verus,” Little said in acknowledgment “Seems like you’ve got this handled.”

Saffron grunted, “Almost -gah- got it.” I felt Anthony’s body go limp as Saffron’s mind magic held him calm and in place.

I motioned to Little, “Our friend Anthony had the Prime Shard and the Binding Mirror. Prime Shard is near the alter.” I looked to see what would happen if I searched for the mirror. “And the mirror is under the 5th pew from the front, left side of the church.” I looked at the men, “Grab them, box them, and lets go.” I looked down at Anthony, “Cuff him for now. I don’t want him hurting himself.”

I turned to Saffron, “Is it within your ability to make him forget?” I asked her. “At the very least forget what the mirror showed him?”

Saffron wasn’t one for many words, she shrugged and replied with a simple, “I’ll try.”

“Good,” I replied, “Let’s get going.”

* * *

Later that night I disabled a few traps at my Wales house. I didn’t live there anymore, but I also didn’t want to leave an active bomb waiting for some unsuspecting person to stumble upon. After that I gated to my personal shadow realm called the Hollow. There, in my makeshift residence, on my bed, I talked with Talisid over the new communicator he’d gotten me. His questions were the same as they ever were. ‘What is Richard up to?’ ‘Have you heard anything?’ ‘Has Morden reached out to you?’.

“Nothing Talisid,” I grumbled while fiddling with my dreamstone, “He hasn’t contacted me in over a month. And to be honest, I’m fine with that.”

“It’s been quiet lately,” he said, “Not even rumors. No major adept activity.”

There was a moment of silence, and I continued to play with the stone, waiting for Talisid to either say more or break the connection. The futures were a little muddled. Talisid was considering asking something.

“Your relationship with the dark mage Chalice concerns me,” he said finally.

I stopped fidgeting with the dreamstone and looked at the communicator. I didn’t say anything.

“Alex, someone saw you eat lunch with her at a cafe in the middle of the day – passing what looked like sensitive information. You’re part of the Junior Council now. You might want to consider that being on friendly terms with a dark mage doesn’t look good. Especially to the Crusaders.”

“It doesn’t look good,” I repeated without emotion.

“I’m not telling you who you can and cannot speak to, but perhaps you might want to be -,” he searched for the word momentarily, “More discreet.”

“What do you expect me to do, Talisid?” I asked mildly aggravated, “It isn’t like any of the Keepers are on speaking terms with me. So who does that leave me with? A handful of independents and a relatively civil dark mage.” I really didn’t want to go into detail about Chalice and I’s quid pro quo relationship. I trusted Talisid more than most on the Council, however every now and then he showed a hint of his Crusader/Guardian traits.

“Do you think she’s a danger to me?” I asked honestly.

I could hear the tisk of lips over the communicator, as the other man considered a response. “Not directly. And not right now. But I worry others might not see it as I do.” He paused. “Watch your back, Verus. And let me know if you do come across any information in regards to Richard or his cabal.”

I put my head down on my pillow. I was tired. “Alright,” I grumbled. I clicked the communicator off and put it on the small table next to my bed.


	4. Chapter 4

It was past sunset and Variam, Luna, Anne, and I stood under the coverage of the trees in Manchester Square. In front of us stood the Wallace Collection, a burnt red building with tasteful white columns, surrounded by a high black metal gate.

I glanced briefly at Luna, “Why did you bring your whip?”

She cocked an eyebrow, “Why did you bring your armor and a knife?”

My eyes narrowed, and I didn’t say anything. This was a simple in and out mission. I didn’t anticipate violence.

“We shouldn’t have to worry about that,” Variam voiced. “Take a look.”

I glanced at the futures, specifically the futures in which I made a ruckus breaking into the Collection. “There are two guards,” I stated.

“What did I tell you?” Variam asked sarcastically, “Luna and I scoped this place out. Most everyone has headed home, except those two.”

“Yes,” muttered Anne, “Two guards.” Her brow furrowed. “I’ll keep an eye on them. I’m sure we can avoid them entirely if we’re careful.”

I looked at them, clustered behind me, “Let’s switch to mental communication once we get inside. No need to alert anyone verbally on accident.”

They all nodded seriously in agreement.

I took a moment to glance into the futures. I watched myself try all the entrances, and found - “Huh,” I exclaimed in surprise, “I guess we’ll try the front door. Anne where are the guards in proximity to the front entry way?”

“They’re-” she paused, drawing out the last part of the word, “They’re headed away from the door right now. Based on the way they’ve been moving, I’d say we have 3 minutes.”  
  
Everyone reached to their faces, putting on a mask Arachne had given each of us. I saw the others’ masks mold to resemble the face of a stranger. Even if we got caught, we could disappear into the night without any worries. Afterwords we each slipped on a pair of gloves. We were ready.

I helped Luna, Variam, and Anne over the fence, before I hoisted myself over – somehow managing to do it without breaking composure. We moved quickly to the front door.  
  
I established a mental link with Luna. _Can you chance this lock open?_ I asked.  
  
She nodded in response. Her gaze rested intently on the door, and after a moment, I heard the sound of metal hitting metal softly. She reached out with a gloved hand and tried the door. It opened. It would have been perfect, except for the loud creaking noise that followed.

Everyone froze. Luna clenched her fists angrily. I suppressed a light chuckle. Luna has gotten very good at guiding her curse, but sometimes, the residual bad luck has unintended consequences. Being the diviner of the group, I could tell the guards had not heard it, and motioned for everyone to go in.

I had never been in the Wallace Museum before. I path-walked the futures to try to map out the place a bit, but mostly I relied on Luna and Variam to lead the way in the dimly lit museum. I opened a link with Anne’s mind so that she could relay if the guards were approaching our area.

Variam led us past an impressive armory, and to a set of stairs. Everyone looked to Anne, and she gave a thumbs up to affirm we wouldn’t be caught. We quietly walked down the stairs, taking extra care to step over the red velvet rope that blocked access to the lower level.

As we walked down, Variam motioned to his head, signaling that he wanted to say something. I disengaged my link to Anne, and clicked open a connection with Variam. Variam is a little harder to listen in than Anne or Luna, but what he had to say was still understandable. _Downstairs_ , began Variam, _is an artifact store, and upstairs somewhere is supposed to be the conservation shops. I’m not sure where it would be_.

By the time I relayed the message to Anne and Luna, we were at the lowest floor.

We approached another door, and Luna hexed the lock, before pushing it open. Inside, the room was packed full of large paintings wrapped in butcher paper, old furniture items some in better condition than others, and a few marble statues missing parts. I heard Luna take in a deep breath, and Variam spoke out loud, “Whoa. This is going to take a while.”  
  
Anne closed the door behind us, and I looked into the futures.

Mentally I conveyed to them, _If we keep this door shut, and don’t make any loud noises, we should have plenty of time. The guards won’t be looking for trouble in a locked room._

From the entry way I saw three collective heads nod in acknowledgment. We each split our different ways and took a different part of the room searching. I walked over to my corner, but instead of rummaging around, I looked into the futures. I came up blank. I made a connection sequentially into Variam, Luna, and Anne’s heads and found a pattern. No one had any luck finding the sword or the dagger. I started looking into the future once again to double check, being sure to also target strange areas that wouldn’t normally house an artifact.

After giving each of them a few more minutes to look around, I clicked everyone’s connections on and conveyed, _Lets check the conservatory. It isn’t here._  
  


* * *

We had traversed the stairs leading up to the conservatory. Between Anne and I, we were able to avoid the guards entirely. Like the last two doors, Luna hexed the lock. I felt anxious, wondering if I had somehow missed something in the basement.

With a click, the door unlocked and swung open. Luna beamed pridefully. We tapered in and started heading in different directions. The room was similar to the last, yet very small in comparison. My anxious feeling grew.

I rechecked my futures to see if I encountered the guards. I didn’t see anything even ten minutes out, and I forced my beating heart to slow down. I needed to calm down. I’d placed too much hope in finding the sword, and I was starting to panic as it started to look like it wasn’t here. I took a deep breath, and reassured myself, that Chalice’s information had been good. We should be able to find the sword here. Whether or not it was a magical sword was still up for debate.

I began searching the far left corner with my precognition, switching between branches as I finished searching a pile of relics. I could hear the others mucking around in their own respective corners of the room searching for the sword of legend.

Five minutes became ten. Ten minutes became twenty. I stopped searching my side of the room and started rechecking Variams side, followed by Luna and Anne’s.

I had been so focused on finding the future with the artifact, it was a miracle that I got any warning at all. My precognition screamed at me, and I abruptly connected to my friend’s minds.

_Someone is coming. Two men._

Everyone stopped mid search.

A few seconds later everyone’s heads twisted and shot towards the conservatory door. They’d all felt the pull of gate magic.

Luna managed to tear her gaze away, and lock her eyes with mine. I could feel the meaning behind the stare without listening through the connection. _What do we do?_

I spoke in each of their minds. _Fight if we have to._ _Get ready. Here they come._

The conservatory’s door slammed open. A man entered. Tall, stocky, with short red hair. He wore the outfit of one of the keeper tactical teams. Behind him a medium-height and more muscled man, with long black hair shadowed the former’s movements.   
  
I mentally issued a command to others to not do anything, because the futures were singular at the moment. Whoever they were, they were 100% committed to talking first and foremost. I saw the opportunity of violence split 50:50.

The tall man spoke into his communicator quickly and sufficiently, as none of us moved. “Responding to the call of a magical related report at the Wallace Collection.” As he spoke I watched the focused futures go wild. The man’s voice kind and professional voice was at odds with the implication of the words he spoke, “It is as we feared. One dark mage and three dead bodies. No backup necessary at the moment.”

Variam opened his mouth to yell a cry for help over the communicator, but the man before us switched it off.

I raced down the immediate futures within a second and projected my findings to the others. _He’s a fire mage. Throwing big fireballs is his specialty. The second one – a death mage._

“I’m going to enjoy this,” the taller man growled as he flung a fireball in my direction. Being a diviner, I had seen it coming, so I dodged. Variam, however didn’t know this, and tried to shield for me, which left him completely open to the man’s second fireball. The second fireball hit Variam in the shoulder, scorching him and pushing him into one of the piles of artifacts. He toppled over, and I hoped he would stay down and loose our attacker’s interest.

The second man with long dark hair, turned towards Anne and Luna. He shot a dark wave of force at them, that threw Luna back and made Anne stumble. Fragile Anne, grabbed the nearest thing – a regal looking chair, and threw it in her attacker’s direction.

My attention was turned back to my own fight as I dodged another fire ball. It was aimed at my face, and singed my hair as it flew by. I heard the sound of ignition behind me. The futures telling me if I turned around I’d see fire starting to climb the walls.

Variam had apparently recovered enough and yelled at our attacker, “I’ll have you know, you’re attacking members of the Light Council! And I work for the Keepers! They won’t stand for the murder of one of their own!” Hmmm. Apparently I wasn’t the only one who’d picked up a few lessons on Council politics. Variam’s arguments was good, and valid. But since I’d begun my work with the Council, and the many assassination attempts that came with it, I knew how this particular conversation would end without needing a precog ability.

The first man’s eyes narrowed, and his smile widened. “They won’t be able to identify you once I burn you to a crisp. Besides,” He flung another fireball in my direction, “You’re conspiring with a Dark mage. You’re just as guilty as him.” He flung two more fireballs in my direction. One of them singed my arm despite the armor. I clenched my teeth and stifled a cry.

Crusaders. Great.

I established a link with Variam. _I need you to try to draw his attention. I’m going to try to get behind him and take him down._  
  
Variam gave a slight covert nod, his eyes never leaving the fire mage.

The fire was starting to rage behind me, and I ran in-front of Variam, towards the other side of the room. The fire mage turned to follow. A bright red ball of flame danced in his open hand.   
  
“The only dark mage I see,” Variam yelled as he extended his sword focus, “Is you!” The sword roared a bright orange and red as flame engulfed it.

I saw genuine shock and anger mar the tall man’s face, as if Variam had said something disgusting. The flaming sword was also a great distraction.

I smirked, and rounded behind the fire mage. I wrapped my arm around his throat, pulled back, unbalancing him, and put the knife to his throat. My burnt arm stung, but I didn’t let any weakness show. Knife to his throat, I now had some leverage, - a hostage.

“Hey,” I called out to the second attacker, trying to get his attention.

Hilariously, the second attacker went sailing over my head. Luna stood, arm extended and whip in hand. I stared for a second, in awe. My gaze followed the second attacker, who hit the wall, crumpled to the ground, and then a piano fell on top of his legs. He screamed.

Luna’s curse is vicious. I knew it was capable of killing a person just by a single touch. This man got off comparatively easy.

“Anne,” I called, “Can you knock this guy out?” I asked.  
  
I caught her look of disdain, but she walked over, touched him, and he fell asleep at her feet.

I heard a creak and a chime. I turned my head to follow the sound. Where the death mage had hit the wall, a hidden door opened. Revealing contents shrouded in darkness. I saw the gleam of something metal.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered, walking over to the wall.

I kicked the crumpled man out of the way (as much as I could with a piano on his lower body) and reached for the contents of the hidden compartment.

“Alex,” Anne stuttered worried, “I couldn’t feel it before. But I can feel it now.”

I raised an eyebrow back at her questioning.

“There is life magic in there. It is alive. And not in the traditional sense of an imbued item.”

I saw Luna pump a fist into the air. “Yes!” she hissed. “I found it! Go chance magic!”

“I’m going to grab it and go,” I said, “The fire is spreading. We need to get out of here.”

I reached for it, and felt a jolt when I grabbed it. A warm feeling spread down my arm. My burn didn’t hurt as much. Behind it, I saw the glimmer of something else. A dagger with a bone-white hilt. I grabbed it too.

I saw a future manifest, and I turned calmly and walked back towards Anne. Several things happened quite quickly. But I reacted to them, following the path that lead to the most favorable outcome.

Anne’s eyes widened, as she realized what was happening.

The fire mage’s hand shot out and grabbed Anne’s ankle.

His hand started to glow.

Variam lunged forward.

Black smoke blazed at the far edges of the room.

Fear crossed over Luna’s face.

And I plunged the sword I believed to be Excalibur into the fire mage’s back.

He screamed, and released Anne’s leg.

Anne stumbled back, falling to the ground.

A bright red hand print, bubbly with heat blisters, stretched over her ankle.

Green magic appeared at her fingertips, and she started healing her leg.

The sword started soaking up the blood as it came out of the man’s back. I felt the same warmness as before ease up my arm. I watched the burn quickly begin to disappear. “Did Sal Sarque send you?” I asked, my tone level.

The man coughed. Blood spurted out of his mouth. Presumably I’d hit a lung when I’d impaled him.

He struggled to make words, “I don’t know what plan you’re up to Verus.” A haggard cough spit up more blood, and drove the sword deeper. “Don’t think we haven’t noticed you going after all the items from the Vault.” He paused for a haggard breath. Whatever he was saying, he was spending the remainder of his life trying to tell me. He wanted me to know.“I’m not the first, and I’m not the last.” He smiled. “We’ll get you. We’ll get your boss Morden.” His body suddenly went limp, and I had to strain to hear the last part. “Dark mages should have no part of the Counc-”.

The fire mage stopped moving, and the sword stopped soaking up blood. Anne looked at me, green magic still healing her leg, “He’s dead.”

I searched his body and gave the command to run downstairs. We got to the courtyard, and used a gatestone to jump away. We left the second man in the burning building. No one said a word.

 


	5. Chapter 5

When I arrived at Arachne’s den I was met by the sound of excited voices. I hung back, and admired everyone’s good spirits. Only Anne seemed to realize I had arrived as her eyes locked on mine.

Luna excitedly leaned over a wide coffee table, looking straight at Variam eagerly, “You shielded Alex back there. How did you- ?” It was common knowledge that fire mages were mostly offensive battle mages. Shielding wasn’t one of their strengths.

“Landis,” replied Variam abashedly. His voice got more sure of himself, and he reiterated, “Landis has been drilling me hard to learn sheilding.”

“Well,” Luna clapped her hands together, “It was awesome! You stopped that huge fireball!”  
  
Variam’s face cracked a smile. “Yeah,” he laughed. “It is a good thing it worked too. I can’t exactly do that consistently.”

I chose that moment to walk in.

“It was a good shield,” I said, “Thanks for the assist.” I didn’t mention that I would have dodged the fireball entirely anyways. He probably didn’t notice that bit, with how much focus he had poured into the shield in that moment.

“What did Xiaofan say?” asked Anne in a calm voice.

“She gave me an odd look at first,” I began, “But after she touched it, she said it was definitely it. She said the last owner of this item had, ‘a weight on his head, a feeling of justice and power, and the composure of a king’. Which,” I motioned generally in the air, “Sounds definitely in the right direction. But isn’t exactly a fool proof confirmation” I took a breath and laughed, “She must have seen disappointment in my face or something. She quickly reassured me, that this sword was Excalibur, beyond a measure of a doubt. She told me it was the clearest read she’s ever gotten of an item before in her life.”

Luna’s eyes went wide, “Whoa.”  
  
I grinned and nodded, “Yeah. So we’re pretty sure it’s the legendary sword. She also verified what we all saw at the Wallace Collection. The sword was crafted with life magic. It takes the life from those it stabs and uses it to fuel the user.”

Arachne scuttled over to us. “Alex,” she said, her eight eyes very wide, “This might actually work.”  
  
“Yeah,” I allowed myself to look at the sword. To really look at it. I allowed myself in that moment to hope. With this I might stand a chance against Richard. I let that sink in for a moment more, before ruining the good mood with the next bit of conversation. “We may have another problem though.”

Everyone’s faces seemed to freeze, and they sat up a little more straight, paying attention to my every word.

“Anne, I have a question for you first,” I turned my head to hers, “When I asked you to put the fire mage to sleep – did you sense anything odd or did anything go wrong?”  
  
Her eyes narrowed, and she shook her head, “No.”

“Has anyone ever woken up quite so soon after you’ve put them to sleep?” I asked.

She shook her head again, “Never.”

Variam was looking nervously between the two of us.   
  
“That’s what I was worried you were going to say,” I muttered. I reached into my pocket and withdrew a earthy colored stone pendant. There were raised lines of gold in the shape of a tree branching out on the surface of the stone. I sat down next to Anne, holding the pendant. “Anne,” I said, “I want you to try to put me to sleep.”

She looked confused, but hesitant, looking between the stone in my hand and my face, searching. She reached out, and I felt a wariness come over me. BUT, I was still awake. I felt calmer, but still acutely aware.

“Anne,” the words felt like trying to talk through a mouthful of peanut butter, “You can see my life, my bodily functions.”

“Yes,” she stared agape at me and stuttered for words, “Alex,” she tripped over her tongue worried, “When I look at y-you. You look asleep. E-everything is telling me-e you should be asleep.”

The blurriness I was feeling began to quickly fade. “I was right to worry,” I said out loud. My mouth no longer struggling to make sounds. “We may have found one weapon against Richard, but at the same time it looks like Sal Sarque is getting smarter. He has found a weapon of his own. If he can make more of these things, and if he can render Anne’s magic mute-”

Luna finished my thought, “And Anne is your aide. Your first line of defense. Then that means -”

I nodded, grimacing, “Things are going to get even more dangerous.”   
  
The room was silent for a long while.   
  
Variam broke the silence. “What did Xiaofan say about the dagger?”

“Oh,” I mused, “I didn’t tell her.”

Variam looked confused.   
  
“Chalice wants the dagger,” I elaborated. “Chalice is a dark mage. Maybe if a certain dark mage wants to keep her new item a secret, she might feel inclined to take out those who know that secret.”

Luna objected loudly, “Do you really think Chalice would do something like that?”

I looked at Luna seriously, “I honestly don’t know. But it isn’t worth chancing my friend’s life.”

She looked down and didn’t meet my eyes.

 

* * *

 

I sat at the same cafe, in the same chair as our previous meeting. Chalice sat across from me, sipping her tea.

I slid the dagger, wrapped in a white cloth across the table to her. She took it, and placed it on her lap, carefully unfolding it. Her breath hitched ever so slightly. I would have missed it if I hadn’t been paying so much attention to her reaction.

“I almost thought you’d keep it for yourself,” she whispered.

“We made a deal. I was not about to jeopardize our working relationship.”

She smiled sharply at that comment.   
  
I smiled back and added, “The thought did cross my mind though.”

 


End file.
